SBS Transit Responds to Footage of Bus Driver Pointing Middle Finger at Driver

On Wednesday (6 Apr), a short 24-second dash cam clip was uploaded to ROADS.sg, featuring a SBS bus captain giving the driver the middle finger as he drove straight past, while the car was made to pause as it was taking a right turn to enter the same lane.

As of writing this article, the video has gathered more than 90,000 views.

Reportedly, the incident involved the Bus Captain of Service 18, and it took place on Tampines Avenue 7 at around 7:20pm on 29 March.  

SBS has also issued a formal apology to the driver and his family, stating that disciplinary action will be taken against the bus driver in question.

SBS’ Apology Statement

After the video went viral online, SBS Transit Ltd immediately took to the Facebook comments to offer an apology.

It wrote, “We do not condone the behaviour of the Bus Captain concerned. In fact, we have zero tolerance for such unbecoming behaviour that Is not in line with the professional standards we expect of our employees.

“Accordingly, we will be taking disciplinary action against him. We apologise to the car driver for the distress caused to him and his family.”

Image: facebook.com

Apparently, the car driver had lodged a police report soon after, stating that he was with his wife, two sons, and daughter at that time.

He felt that the bus captain’s road rage behaviour had insulted his wife and daughter’s modesty, and his entire family was offended by his behaviour.

Besides that, the car driver remarked that his inability to keep his temper in check might be dangerous for the passengers on board.

Insert: facebook.com (ROADS.sg)

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Split Responses from the Netizens

Surprisingly, the public opinion didn’t completely fall into the favour of the car driver, despite the bus captain’s rude attitude.

Yes, there were netizens who wholeheartedly approved of SBS Transit’s tough stance on taking disciplinary action, and that bus captains ought to be held to higher standards, plus the bus captains probably had to undergo training about social decorum or something similar to that.

Some even went as far as comparing bus captains to “aggressive hooligans” when driving—which, rude, most bus captains are usually very nice—and that he endangered all the passengers for taking one hand off the wheel just to flip his middle finger.

However, some commenters pointed out the footage uploaded was suspiciously silent, and others sympathised with the bus captains as a whole.

One of the more well-liked comments wrote, “To be fair, bus captains have been enduring such frequent errant behaviour from road users expecting them to give way when they have the right of way (going straight).”

That comment does fall in line with what happened in the video.

While there aren’t any clear traffic lights/signals in the footage, the bus was in the inner lane of the two-road lane in T-junction. By right, the bus driver isn’t wrong for just driving forward.

A netizen argued that the incident should be properly investigated and given a fair assessment of the situation instead of taking a one-sided account from the car driver’s point of view.

One commenter even theorised that the bus captain’s rude behaviour might have been triggered by the impatient driver who posted the video, and the possibility that the car driver caused distress to the bus captain as well.

Like for instance, the car driver might have honked at the bus driver and expected him to give way, but the viewers would never know if that occurred or not because there’s no sound accompanying the footage.

But if that was the case, then the car driver should be blamed for his reckless driving and possibly putting the safety of the passengers in jeopardy.

Rather than take disciplinary action, commenters suggested that perhaps they should check the bus captain’s disciplinary record first. If the bus captain’s record is stellar, a stern warning and a slap on the wrist would suffice.

Another stated that counselling should be offered as an alternative, so that the bus captains are better equipped to handle similar situations, which is far better than just bottling up their anger and letting it explode in such a coarse manner.   

Either way, all of the comments tie up neatly into one conclusion:

Don’t take your anger out on others, control your mouth and hands, and road rage less.

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Featured Image: Facebook (ROADS.sg)